Regenerative agriculture for dietary diversity and food security in Zambia

Abstract Regenerative agriculture (RA) is a grassroot approach to farming that uses soil conservation as an entry point to regenerate and contribute to multiple ecosystem services. It has the potential to build farm system resilience, improve soil health and soil carbon sequestration, and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. RA can also increase land productivity with ensuing implications on livelihoods and welfare, but little work considers their food and nutrition security implications. This paper studied a bundle of soil-focused agronomic practices often framed as RA in recent policy debates and examined their association with diets and food security. Employing a two-wave panel data set from Zambia with well-suited estimation strategies, the paper shows a positive association between RA and household dietary diversity scores (HDDS). The paper also highlights a positive association between RA and a 24-hour weighted food consumption score. Practices such as contour farming, crop rotation, and mulching are positively correlated with improved dietary quality and enhanced food security. To explain the positive link between RA, diets and food security, the paper identified farm production diversity, market participation, off-farm participation, and income as potential pathways. Heterogeneity analysis of the HDDS food groups showed a positive association between RA and the consumption of eggs, pulses, roots and tubers, and fruits and vegetables. This strengthens the finding that farm production diversity could be one of the pathways linking RA and food security in Zambia. Relatedly, the negative association between RA and the consumption of dairy products bolsters the market participation pathway. These findings lend credence to the importance of strengthening RA and promoting its adoption in smallholder farming systems.